This past Saturday, fans trudged through a cold, rainy day in Charlotte, North Carolina to see some of the nation’s top high schools and top basketball talents compete in Under Armour’s inaugural high school showcase, formerly the Brandon Jennings Invitational in Milwaukee, WI.

Under Armour chose Charlotte out of all places in the country to kick-off their event thanks to the company’s local ties – UA endorser Kemba Walker plays for the Charlotte Bobcats, while their latest endorser Stephen Curry spent his prep years at Charlotte Christian HS — and the cities rich basketball tradition.

“You think of Charlotte as a basketball hot-bed,” said brand director of basketball Mike Parker.

“The tradition, the amount of history. More importantly, we have a guy like Kemba Walker who plays for the Charlotte Bobcats. We just recently signed Stephen Curry who’s from Charlotte. We also signed Cam Newtown from the Carolina Panthers. A lot of things just aligned and made a lot of sense for us to bring a great event like this to an area who appreciates good basketball.”

Under Armour brought together 10 high schools to play in 5 games throughout the day.

“Our grassroots team did a great job of assembling top-notch programs. We wanted to bring together a group of talent that would be very competitive. So a guy like Emmanuel Mudiay, a top five guy in the country, alongside players like Karl Towns and Theo Pinson. We really wanted to show great match-ups and really show the talent that Under Armour is assembling on the high school stage.”

Under Armour live-streamed the event for those who didn’t want to brave it through the elements or weren’t in town to see the games. No matter how you viewed the showcase, you were entertained by some great hoops action.

The day kicked off with Denver East taking on local squad Northside Christian Academy. Denver East, led by point guard Dominique Collier and small forward Ronnie Harrell, took it to Northside Christian in a 30-point blowout.

The next game featured St. John’s College from Washington D.C. taking on Math, Civics and Science from Philadelphia. St. John’s rolled out an all-guard starting five against MCS. St. John’s built an early lead, backed by the scrappy play of shooting guard Mike Morsell and point guard Anthony Cowan Jr. That early lead would increase as the game went on. Math, Civics, Science look overwhelmed for the most part. St. John’s would eventually take home the win, defeating MCS by 30 points. Moresell was named MVP of the game.

Hargave Military looked like they would continue the streak of blowouts as they took on Florida-based Oldsman Christian. Hargrave employed a press that shook-up the Oldsman guards, leading to some quick turnovers and easy baskets for the Tigers.

Oldsman had more pride than that though. A 6’4’ shooting guard named Roy Holston led the furious comeback against Hargrave. They would eventually tie the game up at 40 going into halftime after being down early. In the end, Oldsman couldn’t hang with the size of the depth of Hargave and would eventually fall to the Tigers.

University of Kentucky recruit Karl Towns Jr. led his Saint Joseph Metuchen squad against Massachusetts’s prep school powerhouse Wilbraham & Monson Academy. This game, just like the others, started out looking like it would be a blowout for Saint Joe’s. Towns would cause havoc for the W&B big men, as he finessed his way into easy buckets down low. He even showed some range as he stepped out to hit a three-pointer early in the first half.

Towns also got help from another Townes throughout the night. Marques Townes showed some great athleticism as the game went on, catching ally-oops and dunking with ease.

Point guard Wade Baldwin assisted his teammates with a couple of drives and helped in setting up other with some easy looks. Despite great play from W&M, Saint Joseph proved to be too much to handle at the end and pulled out a win.

The game of night pitted North Carolina’s Wesleyan Christian and UNC-signee Theo Pinson against Prime Prep out of Dallas and their five-star point guard Emmanuel Mudiay.

The game was everything you thought it would be. Out the gate, the fast playing Prime Prep built a quick eight-point lead backed by Mudiay and the hot three-point shooting of sophomore guard De’Shawn Williams.

Pinson and Wesleyan wouldn’t back down. After a monster two-handed slam delivered by Theo, Wesleyan would push back against Prime Prep — making it a close game throughout. As the game ticked down to the final seconds, Wesleyan had the lead and possibly one of the biggest upsets of the year in hand until Mudiay hit a 3 pointed with 23 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Ultimately, Prime Prep would prove to be too tough for Wesleyan and eventually took home the win in OT.

Those in attendance had a great time, despite the rain. Fans and players can look forward to heading back to the Queen City in the future.

“We would like to continue to be here in Charlotte,” said Parker about the possibility of making Charlotte the host city moving forward.

After a day of basketball like Saturday’s, Charlotte residents can only hope that UA continues to bring that level of high school talent back to the city for years to come.

As part of the 30-page event program that SLAM composed for Under Armour’s 2012 Brandon Jennings Invitational was a featurette on nationally renowned prospect Aquille Carr. For those who were unable to attend the showcase and get their hands on this very dope SLAM special edition booklet, below is the story in its entirety. (Note that the interview and story was done a couple of weeks before Carr verbally committed to Seton Hall.) Enjoy.

The crime rate in Baltimore is among the highest in the nation. But despite the rough reputation for its unforgiving streets, a teenager out of east Baltimore has apparently been able to single handily subdue delinquency. At least, that’s the perception. Aquille Carr, aka “The Crime Stopper,” received his nickname after drawing such big crowds on game nights that the word around town is that even criminals take the night off to go watch the junior stud play. “When I’m on the court, nobody’s outside—no crime or anything bad is going on,” says Carr. “Everybody’s just with me. It feels good to know that you got your city behind you, just knowing that everybody is going to come out and support you. I just try to put on a show for them and show them that I’m gonna make it out.”

Carr has built such a large following throughout the city of Baltimore that many of Patterson High’s home games had to be moved to Morgan State University to accommodate the large crowds. But the buzz goes way beyond his home state. One of his highlight reels on YouTube has surpassed 2.5 million views. Needless to say, Patterson has been invited to play in multiple tournaments throughout the country this season. You don’t think his popularity stops there, do you?

Last spring, while participating in the Junior International Tournament in Milan, Italy, Carr turned heads and officially grew his fan base internationally. His superb performance included a 45-point outing, while reportedly averaging over 40 points per game in the tourney and ultimately being carried off the court by the Italian crowd. But that wasn’t even the main story that broke out of this Euro trip. Carr, who lists Seton Hall, Connecticut, Memphis, Texas, Baylor and Kentucky among the top schools he’s currently considering for college, was subsequently offered a $750,000 contract to play for Lottomatica Virtus Roma—the same club that Milwaukee Bucks star Brandon Jennings once played for during his historic season in Europe. Carr instead opted to return to Baltimore for his junior season.

“I was shocked. I didn’t pay it any mind because I’m still in school,” says Carr. “My coach talked to their coach and he told me what they were saying. I didn’t really talk to them. It was a good experience though. It was fun.”

Despite all the hype he’s garnered, Carr still feels there are many who are sleeping on him because of his height. Standing at only 5-7, he’s looking to defeat the odds. “I think people overlook me a lot because I’m little. They think I’m not capable of doing what someone bigger than me can do. But I just prove them wrong every time because I always want to work harder than the next person,” says Carr. “I just keep on working so I can stay at the top. I just gotta keep showing people that I can do it. I just want to turn everybody into a believer.”

Carr rose into stardom the night he out-performed McDonald’s All-American and current Memphis Grizzlies rookie Josh Selby, who at the time was a senior while Carr only a freshman. “I remember coming into the game everybody was saying, ‘Oh, you’re not gonna do that against Josh.’ But I was like, He ain’t no different from me. So I just went out there and played basketball,” recalls Carr.

That night, Carr finished with 39 points and 19 assists. From that point forward, he’d won the heart of his city. He averaged 25.5 points, 8 assists and 5.3 steals for his freshman season. Carr followed up his sophomore year by averaging 31.3 points, 5.6 assists and 4.5 steals while leading Patterson to a 25-2 record and the school’s first city championship since 1976—although the Clippers eventually fell short in the state title game. Now he’s poised to go all the way. “Now I just want get two state championships before I leave,” says Carr. “I would love to do that.”

Known for his incredible athleticism—a fearless competitor with tremendous speed, explosiveness, and leaping ability—Carr can light up the board and score in bunches. More impressive is that despite his height, you can regularly catch him dunking the ball with ease—a talent that has left many fans in awe. “I just think I was born with it because I could always jump since I was little. I never worked on my legs or anything,” says Carr. “That’s just God’s gift right there.”

And now the only thing left is for him to utilize his gifts and embrace the role as the main attraction at every gym he plays. “I’ve accepted that role,” he says. “Because that’s how I’ve always wanted for it to be.”

Over the weekend, 10 of the nation’s top high school basketball programs met up in Milwaukee for the Brandon Jennings Invitational by Under Armour. We live-blogged it from the scene, and posted photos earlier today. Now, finally, we have the highlights to prove just how sick this event was. Pay special attention to the nastiness provided by JP Tokoto, Aquille Carr, Nick Emery and Glenn Robinson III.

This past weekend, Under Armour hosted 10 of the top teams in the nation at the second annual Brandon Jennings Invitational in Milwaukee, WI. After providing you with a live blog of the showcase throughout the day and a preview of the event last week, it was only right that we now give you some snapshots of the top prospects in action. Among them are recent Seton Hall-commit Aquille Carr, Michigan-bound wing Glenn Robinson III—who was the most dominant performer of the day with 33 points—BYU-commit Nick Emery (also another notable performance with 31 points), UNC-signee JP Tokoto, and future San Diego State big man Skylar Spencer, among others. Also, this week we’ll be running a couple of articles from the top-notch 30-page event program SLAM assembled for Under Armour.

For the second straight year, SLAM is in the building reporting live from courtside at the Brandon Jennings Invitational in Milwaukee, WI. After an successful inaugural showcase, which featured the likes of Duke standout Austin Rivers and West Virginia’s Aaron Brown, and judging from today’s scheduled match-ups, this promises to be another great day of basketball.

Some highlighted names in this year’s event include Aquille Carr, who to the surprise of many actually verbally committed to Seton Hall just yesterday only hours before catching a plane to the invitational and who’s arguably regarded as the nation’s most exciting and entertaining player to watch at the high school level. Joining him at Marquette University High School will be Michigan-bound Glenn Robinson III (son of former Milwaukee Bucks star Glen “Big Dog” Robinson), UNLV commit DaQuan Cook, BYU recruit Nick Emery, Brooklyn sophomore sensation Isaiah Whitehead, and Tar Heel-bound wing JP Tokoto, among the many other rising stars. For a more extensive breakdown of today’s match-ups, check out the preview piece we ran on the event earlier in the week, if you haven’t done so already.

Next week, we’ll be running articles from the very dope 30-page program SLAM put together for Under Armour’s 2012 Brandon Jennings Invitational, so be on the lookout for those as well. We hope you join us throughout the afternoon for an intense qunituple(!) header of hoops.

GAME 1: Memphis (TN) Melrose vs. Baltimore (MD) St. Frances

The “hometeam” Wildcats out of Memphis, are off to a 20-14 lead early in the second quarter.

Quick note on the scene this year in the event’s second go round. In short, it has gotten even better. As Under Armour grows into it’s basketball business (see DeAndre Jordan for the increasing relevance at the pro level), they’ve also continued to grow into high school. And with more teams and more gear, there’s more to show off. I’ll drop some pics into this post shortly of some of the shoes (UPDATE: that’s the Under Armour Brandon Jennings Invitational SMU at right) and uniforms (UPDATE: Lincoln’s is below at left) teams are rocking today, which are on display just off the lobby of the gym.

Meanwhile, on the floor, the teams look crisp and are trading buckets. 26-24 St. Frances with three minutes left in the half. Should be close throughout.

St. Frances, led by 9 points each from Tevon Saddler and Maurice White, takes a 31-30 lead into the locker room. Melrose is being led by sophomore Jamerrio Jones’ 15 points.

For a 12:30 start between two teams with no league status or rivalries at stake, I’m really impressed with the intensity and quality of play. Speaks to the pride kids have in being part of an event like this. BTW, a bucket by aforementioned St. Frances star Cook, who is committed to UNLV, gives the Panthers a 35-30 lead midway through the third quarter.

After three quarters, St. Frances from Baltimore is up 47-40 and slowly taking control of this game.

I may have spoken too soon…49-47, St. Frances with 4:25 left.

For obvious travel-related reasons, these two teams don’t have a lot of their own fans in the building. Hope they’re reading along here though!

St. Frances gets some tough stops and skillfully milks the clock on offense to hold on for a 63-55 win.

White finishes as the Panthers (and the game’s) leading scorer with 24, while Markel Crawford tops Melrose with 19. St. Frances’ Saddler, a 6-4 junior who has loads of mid-major scholarship offers already and may well be solid high-major DI signing when the time comes, is named the game’s MVP.

Game two tips off shortly.

Game 2: Brooklyn (NY) Lincoln vs. Highland (UT) Lone Peak

A fascinating match-up for demographic reasons as Lone Peak is located in Highland, UT, a not-event-that-close suburb of Salt Lake City, while Lincoln is in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Guessing these kids have different trips to school.

What they’ve got in common is some serious basketball players, though. Look forward to seeing what happens in this one.

Lincoln and Lone Peak trade buckets early, with their highly touted guards Isaiah Whitehead and Nick Emery, respectively, trying to get warmed up. A Whitehead three gives Lincoln a 10-5 lead halfway through the opening quarter.

Lone Peak, which is fresh off a win at the Beach Ball Classic, has started raining in threes and is up 18-10 after closing the first with 13 unanswered points.

Apropos of this event and all the mid-major talent on display is my memory of one of last year’s best Lincoln players, Shaquille Stokes, who signed with—and is playing quite well for—Hawaii. I just think it’s dope that a Brooklyn kid went all the way to Hawaii to play DI hoops.

Meanwhile, Emery, a big-time DI talent in his own right (a junior, he’s already committed to BYU), is just bombing threes on Lincoln now. With him leading the way Lone Peak is now leading at the half, 34-25. Almost nothing but threes in this one.

Lone Peak’s sharpshooting ways continue in second half; the Knights are up 42-27 just three minutes in.

No fault with Lincoln’s effort today, but Lone Peak is just too good for them. Good defense and awesome shooting. Now up 51-33 as third quarter winds down. Emery isn’t only great shooter on this team, either. Lone Peak is getting lots of good play from Emery’s fellow junior guard Connor Toolson, whose father, Andy, played at BYU.

Trying not to go too cliche-crazy in here, but Lone Peak is really running on a clinic on these Brooklyn guys. And Lincoln’s good! Started the season 9-0. Guess this is why Lone Peak is the top-ranked team in Utah (and the defending state champs). LP is now up 60-36.

Up 84-54 with a minute and a half left, Lone Peak empties its bench. So much so that the PA guy here says, “checking in for Lone Peak…a whole bunch of guys.” Well played.

Lincoln’s Ian Vasquez gives the Railsplitters a couple highlight-reel buckets of their own before the clock runs out, but really this game has been all about the Knights, who take a 90-63 W.

Emery (at right; photo by Kelly Kline) finishes with a game- and team-high 31 points, and a very shiny MVP trophy. He made eight(!) threes, and his team made 16. Lincoln’s top scorer was senior forward Travis Charles with 21.

Game three coming soon…

Game 3: St. John (IN) Lake Central vs. Menomonee Falls (WI) High

The star of this match-up should be Menomonee Falls’ star forward JP Tokoto. The UNC-bound player was one of my favorite guys to watch at last year’s event. Meanwhile, Lake Central features Glenn Robinson III, son of former Bucks’ great Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson. Glenn III will be a Michigan Wolverine next season.

Sure enough, Tokoto makes four athletic plays in the first three minutes of the game. Lake Central is unfazed as a team though. Big dunk by GRob III makes it 9-3 Lake Central. Speaking of acronyms, has anyone in this state ever been hip (or old, I must admit) enough to use the headline MF Doom in reference to a story about Menomonee Falls?

Lake Central up 12-5 as first quarter winds down. Raggedy game so far.

Your trusty live blogger needs to leave the gym for a bit…enjoy the college hoops or NFL Playoff games you’re watching and check back in a bit. I should be back by third quarter of this one.

And, with the day of hoops officially half over (5 of 10 quarters complete), Lake Central is up 33-19 on MF.

Robinson and Tokoto pretty much living up to all the hype, dunking—or trying to dunk—whenever possible (but within their teams’ offenses, I swear!). UPDATE: that’s Robinson throwing it down on our homepage image. Sick.

Lake Central up 51-37 after three quarters. Slight blowout potential in the 4th if MF isn’t careful. Lake Central up 65-46 with two minutes left. A fun near-blowout, though.

Sorry folks, had some technical difficulties there. (A SLAMonline live-blog tradition, as the old heads know).

Anyway, this fourth of five games offers the relatively unsung hosts of this event (this entire high school is very impressive, by the way) a chance to play a long-renowned national program in the visitors from Center City Philadelphia.

Talk in the media room before the game was that Roman, led by highly touted sophomore guard Shep Garner, might have their way in this one. After a slow-paced first half, however, that is far from the case. Roman and Marquette just went to their locker rooms tied at 19.

Better-played second half, especially by the hosts. Some big threes by Marquette junior swingman Andy Kreuger have helped the Hilltoppers to a 39-32 lead halfway through the fourth quarter.

No quit in the Philly kids though. 41-41 with 1:26 left in the game. Oddly quiet crowd for this game considering Marquette is the only true home team today. Guess these fans prefer dunks.

After a Marquette basket is called off for an offensive foul (good call, actually), we go to overtime. Adding to the lots-of-basketball vibe. Still 41-all.

This has been a fun day of good hoops, but this is NOT the game anyone wanted to see go to overtime. With a malaise settling in on and off the court and 50 ticks left, Marquette leads 44-43. Aquille Carr needs to energize this crowd pronto in the next game!

Wow. Great ending at least. Marquette guard Alex McBride, who goes all of 5-11, put back a miss by his teammate (and game MVP) Donnell Cegers to win the game for the hosts, 46-45.

Marquette was led by Kreuger’s 11 points, while Britton Lee led Roman Catholic with 14.

The fifth and final(!) game about to tip off.

Game 5: Baltimore (MD) Patterson vs. Los Angeles (CA) Price

The marquee matchup by the organizers thinking, this game features the much talked-about 5-6 Aquille “Crime Stopper” Carr leading his Patterson team against a solid opponent out of L.A. led by big man Skylar Spencer. Carr is just a junior but he’s lit up YouTube with his highlights and committed to Seton Hall yesterday. Spencer is a 6-8 shot-blocking senior who will play at San Diego State next season.

Pretty lively first period. Carr definitely getting in the lane, but Price has some big bodies that can slow him down. A nice corner three from Price’s Chance Murray (a junior getting Pac-12 looks) gives the “hometeam” a 17-10 lead.

Carr’s end-to-end speed is outrageous. One of his patented up-and-under finishes ties up the game at 29 with three minutes left in the first half. No doubt dude is fun to watch. The PA guy insists on calling him A-Kil-i Carr (like the old Bengals QB), but the announcer is definitely enjoying the game.

Another impressive player on the floor is Price’s Khalil Johnson, a 6-7 senior forward who Scout.com tells me is getting looks from Cal-State Northridge and Hawaii.

With Carr relentlessly pushing the pace, Patterson gets some easy buckets and takes a 39-31 lead into the half.

One of the recipients of Carr’s fastbreak dimes has been forward Shakir Brown, who I knew seemed familiar…that’s cause he was MVP of a game here last year when he played for St. Frances. I’ll say the same things about him this year I did last year: very smooth game and a mid-major in the mid-Atlantic should be very happy to have him.

This Spencer kid for Price might have 10 blocks. Patterson keeps pushing, though. The Charm City representers are up, 47-36, with 5:30 left in the third.

Carr is faster with the ball than anyone out here without it. Looks like it would be exhausting to guard him. It’s kind of exhausting just watching him, honestly (this being the fifth game of the day might be a factor my exhaustion as well.)

Patterson’s 6-10 Leonard Livingston beats the third-quarter buzzer with a dunk to give his team a 62-51 lead.

Price is forcing some turnovers and creeping back into this thing: deficit down to 62-66 with 5:45 left.

Lot of good passing in this game. Also a lot of awful free throw shooting.

Sadly, a very fun game has fallen apart thanks to the refs calling EIGHT MILLION FOULS in the second half. Both teams deep into the double bonus, and the fastbreaks and blocked shots have ground to a halt.

Patterson’s players maintain their composure and hold on for a 85-76 win to cap off a looong but fun day of hoops for Under Armour. If the tape delay version edits out some of these ridiculous foul calls it will be very fun to watch on tv so remember to check your local listings for the Fox Sports broadcast on Monday, Jan. 16. I’ll post some stats from this last one in a sec.

Carr got MVP after his, in the words of the PA guy, “19-point and some shifty moves” performance. His balanced Patterson team was actually lead by Brown’s 21 points. For Price, Spencer had 14 points and by my unofficial count, 12 blocks.

And that’s a wrap. Thanks for reading. Check next week for a photo gallery of the event and hopefully some video highlights too.

Since launching its basketball division in 2008, Under Amour has gone from being just another new brand in the sport to one of the most visible, recognized and active names in the world of high school basketball. UA has also taken a piece of the pie at the college ranks and even recently formed a new partnership with the NBA. At the prep level, 37 of the top high school basketball programs currently don Under Armour uniforms and footwear. The logo isn’t just visible on teams. Some of the top events in the high school circuit, such as the City of Palms Classic, NBPA Camp, Elite 24, I-95 Challenge and UA Best of the Best are also sponsored by the Baltimore-based company.

But last year a new event was introduced that may very well be on its way to joining the list of most prestigious showcases in the season calendar. On a freezing January weekend in Milwaukee, WI eight of the top teams in the nation converged for the inaugural Brandon Jennings Invitational. The Milwaukee Bucks star, who became the first Under Armour basketball endorser in 2008, was known in his prep days for being one of the most exciting players around, with his lavish moves and winner mentality.

The games turned out to be a success and included a thrilling last second shot in overtime by NYC’s Boys & Girls over Florida’s Winter Park, who featured Austin Rivers’ event-high 35 points, in a game that would get televised nationally on Fox Sports Net. The Invitational, which seemingly surpassed the gym’s crowd capacity last year, is expected to return this weekend with match-ups that are touted to be as competitive as it can get.

“The whole point of it is to create a buzz of what Under Armour basketball is about at the high school level,” says Ted Gladue, Under Armour’s Senior Manager of Sports Marketing. “I think last year was a fantastic year one. I think we built a lot of equity that we can feed of. Essentially, just bringing our best high school basketball programs in a space where we can showcase a lot of our product and footwear mainly, but built something pretty special where teams would want to be with us. And this is our gift back sort to speak. When they leave Milwaukee, we want them to know what Under Armour basketball is all about and how progressive and innovative we are, and leave there with a notion that Under Armour basketball is for real and we’re here.”

Basketball is only a fraction of what this event is all about. The players will partake in a variety of activities that will lead up to the main event on Saturday. Most teams are expected to arrive by Thursday night. The next morning, all teams will get a chance to get some practice in and run-throughs. Then, legendary Maryland head basketball coach Gary Williams will address the participants about how to mentally approach the game of basketball as a player. Gladue points out that the Under Armour “Are You From Here?” national campaign is not quite in the literal sense but about being in that right mindset. And that’s exactly what Williams will look to preach to the kids—the definition of hard work, character, integrity, and being a good teammate, among other things.

In addition to Williams, UA is planning a workshop where the kids will learn about managing their brand, specifically in terms of social media and how they should portray themselves on and off the court. The players will also learn some of the fundamentals of personal finance. All participants will end Friday with a night out to Dave & Buster’s.

This year, the event expanded to 10 teams. Considering the rapid pace at which UA has been growing in the prep scene and the amount of nationally ranked programs that are now under the company, it has become quite a challenge for the brand to select which teams are to participate in the annual showcase.

“It’s difficult because we’re growing so quickly. Last year, we had about eight teams out of like 20 high schools. Now we have about 35. Chester High School, who we just signed, they’re number 10 in the country right now, so it’s been difficult keeping up with the additions and timing the events,” says Gladue. “As we grow and slow off, the selection process won’t be as difficult in the future. We have ten of the top schools in the country playing in this thing. It’s going to be fun.”

As for the guy who is the name behind the event, Under Armour says there couldn’t have been a more perfect individual to spearhead the efforts. “He’s great. He’s still young and so he’s excited about this stuff. Last year, he sat there the whole time and hung out with the kids,” says Gladue about Jennings, who unfortunately won’t be able to attend this year due to the tightly compressed NBA season schedule. But that hasn’t stopped Jennings from actively including himself behind the scenes. “He’s involved on the little things that you may not think he would be, like approving the program cover. He just enjoys knowing what’s up and we just keep him in the loop on everything,” Gladue adds. “Brandon has done a welcome message for the kids in a video that he put together himself and will be attached as much as he can.”

The match-ups are beyond promising. With the tip-off scheduled for 12:30pm, Melrose of Memphis, TN will take on St. Frances Academy of Baltimore, MD. Melrose features Markel Crawford, a 6-3 junior point guard who already has offers from an array of SEC schools, and one that made a name for himself last summer in the AAU circuit after traveling nationally with YOMCA. He’s known for his tenacious style of play on both ends of the floor and ability to knock down shots from beyond the perimeter as well as a dangerous mid-ranger shooter. He’s fearless when attacking the rim and proven a knack for finishing strong in all types of ways. St. Frances has a stud of its own. DaQuan Cook, a senior that has signed to play at UNLV in the fall, can play either guard positions. He’s athletic, possesses good court vision, can put up points in a hurry, and is just a great all-round performer. He returns to St. Frances for his senior season after starring last season at Digital Harbor, where he averaged 21 points, 7 rebounds and 6 rebounds, while leading his team to the Class 2A state championship.

The second game will see Lone Peak from Highland, Utah and Lincoln out of Brooklyn, New York square off. Peak comes off a second place finish at the Beach Ball Classic in South Carolina just last week. They have made it to the State’s 5A title game the past three years and even won it all in 2011. Their key player is Nick Emery, a junior point guard that has verbally committed to BYU. He average 21.6 points, and close to 4 rebounds, 4 assists and over 2 steals per game as a sophomore last year—earning him All-State player honors.

Lincoln, who has produced NBA players Stephon Marbury, Sebastian Telfair, and Lance Stephenson over the years, has a new Coney Island prodigy on the rise. Sophomore Isaiah Whitehead, who’s already drawing comparison to his predecessors, averaged over 13 points and 5 rebounds over the regular season last year as a freshman. He’s an extremely confident and aggressive guard that can knock it down from distance, or with his array of moves off the dribble he can slash to the hole and finish with the best of them. Lincoln were the runner-ups in NYC’s public school league last year.

Slated to take the court next will be Lake Central of St. John, IN and Menomonee Falls of Wisconsin. Lake Central features the son of the top pick in 1994 NBA Draft and former Milwaukee Bucks star Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson. Robinson III (left) averaged 22.1 points, seven rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals last season as a junior. The 6-6 wing will be attending Michigan in the fall and is expected to go head-to-head with another national renowned 6-6 wing, who’ll be starring for the Tar Heels next season.

The fourth game of the day will feature Roman Catholic out of Philadelphia, PA against the tourney host Marquette University HS. Roman features Shep Garner, a 6-2 combo guard that has drawn national notoriety despite only having a year of high school under his belt, can sink jumpers from way beyond the arc and in bunches. The very athletic guard is impressively explosive off the dribble and can create shots for himself from just about anywhere on the floor. Marquette has some talent of its own as well.

The fifth and final game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net on tape-delay and will feature Price from Los Angeles, CA and Patterson out of East Baltimore. Price is led by Skylar Spencer, a 6-9 center signed to hoop at San Diego State in the fall. The 6-9 big man is as athletic as you’ll find for someone his size at this level. For Paterson, they feature non other than one of the most talked about juniors in the country. Aquille Carr, standing at only 5-7, is most often noted for being offered a $750,000 contract last summer to play pro ball for Lottomatica Virtus Roma—the same club where Jennings once played before joining the League. Carr aka “The Crime Stopper” averaged 31.3 points, 5.6 assists and 4.5 steals last season as a sophomore, while leading Patterson to a 25-2 record and the school’s first city championship since 1976.

As for Under Armour, they’ll continue enjoying their climb in the game of basketball by staying involved at the grassroots level with events like the one taking place this weekend at Marquette University High School. “Here we are, three and half years in. We’re in it now. I think we’ve proven ourselves from a service and product standpoint—the way we cater to these programs, people know and see how we treat people,” says Gladue. “I don’t think its anymore of a selling point now, it’s just about making sure people are representing our brand well. That’s the number one component for my group and myself. Lets make sure people represent us well. Our product speaks for itself. I don’t think it’s about selling it per say but you’re still competing with brands that have been around for a while.”

Tune in to SLAMonline this Saturday, as we’ll have live coverage of all scheduled games.

After the successful inauguration of the Under Armour Brandon Jennings Invitational at the beginning of the year, SLAM is proud to return as a sponsor of the marquee showcase in 2012. Next week, we’ll be featuring a detailed preview of the event, providing in-depth analysis of every team and notable players expected to partake in the festivities. In addition, SLAM will be on hand in Milwaukee, WI for live coverage of the games. For now, check out the announcement from our friends at Under Armour:

The 2nd Annual Under Armour Brandon Jennings Invitational will be held on January 7 in Milwaukee, WI at Marquette University High School. The event features eight of the nation’s top high school basketball teams and some of the country’s best players.

In addition to high-level competition that will take place on the court, players will participate in off the court activities – including a lecture from former University of Maryland head basketball coach Gary Williams – designed to emphasize the importance of education, financial literacy and hard work.

Here are some really cool photos from the first-ever Under Armour Brandon Jennings Invitational, which was held at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, WI. The event featured some of the nation’s best high school talent, and an incredibly competitive atmosphere was formed. Our Editor-in-Chief Ben Osborne was there from start to finish, with game recaps, insight, and analysis of the day’s action. Check out his Q + A with top players here, and the complete event recap here. An overall great event, all for the love of the game.

Courtesy of BallisLife, here are some highlights of Austin Rivers tearing it up at the Brandon Jennings Invitational (check our coverage of the event here and here), along with an interview, during which the young’n talks about last week’s tourney and his decision to attend Duke.

My second day at the Under Armour Brandon Jennings Invitational in Milwaukee, which I detailed on here yesterday, began by seeing Chris Herren address the players in the hotel. As ball fans should know, Herren is the schoolboy legend out of Fall River, MA, who carved out a decent college and pro career that might have been much better had he not battled substance abuse most of his adult life. Chris, who is friendly with Under Armour’s Kris Stone going back to the Fresno days, has a book coming out in a couple months called Basketball Junkie, and if his speech to these kids was any indication, it will be gripping.

After breakfast and a quick bus ride to nearby Marquette University High in Milwaukee, I grabbed my scorer’s table seat and posted up for a long day of entertaining hoops.

In order of when they were played, here’s what happened in the four games…

Lansdowne (PA) Penn Wood 82, Los Angeles (CA) Crenshaw 62

Boasting a pronounced size advantage, the Patriots controlled this East-West matchup pretty much from jump.

Penn Wood star Aaron Brown, who was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, put the exclamation on the win with a sick, leaning jam about halfway through the fourth quarter (at right). Brown was helped on the inside by the massive, Penn State-bound (for football) Shawn Oakman and their fellow senior Darian Barnes, who set a physical tone that Crenshaw had no one to counter with.

For Crenshaw, which seemed a little sleepy throughout (perhaps the 11 am start was tough for a team from L.A.?), Isaac Hamilton was the leading scorer with 20 points while his younger bro Daniel had 11 (including three triples).

The official Player of the Game award went to Penn Wood’s Brown, who will be a West Virginia Mountaineer next season. If he can catch more dunks like this one, you know the Morgantown faithful will be thrilled.

Baltimore (MD) St Frances 60, Chicago (IL) Orr 39

Coming from just down I-94 in Chicago, Orr had a decent crowd for this game, and the best individual player in senior Illinois signee Mycheal Henry, who scored 24 points on a variety of pretty jumpers and smooth moves through the lane. But St. Frances of Baltimore had the better team.

Led by relatively unheralded junior wing Shakir Brown, who scored a game-high 27 points, the Baltimoreans and their coach, Mark Karcher, led throughout the game. Rutgers commit Greg Lewis of St Frances (at left) struck me as a little passive, but he clearly has skills and did score 14 points for the victors.

The official Player of the Game award went to Brown, who should be a real solid signing for a mid-major in the mid-Atlantic next year.

In closing my write-up for this game I want to give a little shout out to event sponsor Under Armour for taking advantage of the fresh colors these teams wear (St Frances rocks yellow and black, Orr black and gold) by outfitting them in dope uniforms and matching kicks.